


Camera lens

by Anzieizna



Series: Short stories [11]
Category: Original Work
Genre: F/F
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2019-04-29
Updated: 2019-06-23
Packaged: 2020-02-09 21:58:23
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 15
Words: 3,311
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/18646897
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Anzieizna/pseuds/Anzieizna
Summary: New format I'm experimenting with. This is literally just a "story" I work on when I need practise or a warm up. The reason it doesn't state names is because: 1) the camera doesn't know who they are, and it's from the perspective of the camera, and 2) it was meant to be a big reveal of like "HAHA THEY'RE LESBIANS" but then I realised it was stupid and it's too late now to go back





	1. Outside a cafe

**Author's Note:**

> These chapters will be pretty short, each only a couple hundred words, but I promise they'll get longer over time.

The camera flickers, black mixing with white before the two merge to form a multitude of blurry colours. There’s the whir of a lens shifting and then the colours sharpen, creating the image of a woman sitting on an empty table outside a coffee shop.

 

She looks up from her phone, brows furrowing for a moment before she rolls her eyes. “Oh my God, I thought you were joking about that.”

 

“Carrie, I’d never pass up a chance to record your beauty,” a voice from behind the camera speaks.

 

The other woman blushes, smiling a bit before brushing the expression off and leaning forward with a, “no, Dot, turn that off – come on, I look horrible—”

 

“No, you look _fine_ —”

 

The camera clicks off.


	2. Messy hair

The next time the machine is turned on again, it’s already in focus. The woman before is sitting on a couch, a yorkie puppy held in her arms like a long-lost treasure. The dog wiggles in its spot but the woman doesn’t yield, patting its head gently as she coos over it.

“Should I be jealous?” the voice behind the camera asks.

“He’s so cute,” the woman continues, ignoring her companion. “Oh my God, I can’t believe Kenny didn’t tell us he was getting a dog!”

The voice snorts. “I think if he did, he’d never get Rusty back.”

The woman looks up, glaring and mouth ready and open, but stops when she sees the camera. She blushes once more, quickly scowling. “Hey, no, turn that off! My hair is a mess.”

The camera zooms in on the woman’s messy bun. “Your hair looks great, shut up. Plus it’s really fun to tug around in bed when I have you on your-“

“I will throw the dog at you!” The woman threatens, launching a pillow across the room.

The camera clicks off just as the pillow hits the lens, warm laughing filling the scene.


	3. We're in a McDonalds

When it turns on again, it takes a few seconds to focus. By the time it has, the woman’s already seen it and already has a scowl on.

“We’re in a McDonalds,” she stresses, looking behind the camera. “What could possibly be so important to be part of your digital scrapbook?” The last words are said mockingly, the woman scrunching her face up and changing the pitch of her voice.

Behind the camera, the voice chuckles at the image. “That is not my voice.”

“It is,” the woman argues. “You sound like those hyenas from Lion King; it’s ridiculous.”

The voice hisses. “Hey! We do not speak of that tragedy in this house, okay?” 

The woman laughs. “Yes, yes, of course.” She looks up, biting her grin as she puts her hands together in a prayer. “Forgive me, great Ronald McDonald, for I have sinned in your building of virtue.”

“The family next over is giving you weird looks.”

The woman throws her hands down, scowling instantly. “I knew we should have stayed inside this morning.”

“Whatever you say, smoochey-bear.”

The camera turns off.


	4. Not funny

White flashes in the screen, then conjures up a clear image after a few seconds. The woman is sprawled on the bed, half-assed bun spilling apart on the pillows and blanket contorted around her torso.

“Carrie?”

The woman hums, frowning as she burrows further into the pillows.

“Do you know what day it is?”

“Christmas?”

The voice snorts. “No.”

“Then don’t bother waking me up,” she growls, pulling the duvet over her head.

Tiny snickers sound from behind the camera. “Hey, no, come on.”

The woman groans for about thirty seconds straight but pulls herself up, red marks on her face from the pillow. She blinks sleepily at the camera, gaze clouded. “Are you recording? Why?”

“Because it’s April first.”

The woman frowns, confused, before looking behind her at the alarm clock. Bright, red letters flash 4:17am proudly, and the woman spins around with a gasp.

“You asshole, it’s not even eight am!” She cries, throwing a pillow at the person holding the camera. “You freak, why would you do this?!”

The voice just laughs louder and louder until the woman jumps forward, hands out and ready to tickle. The camera falls and gets tangled with the duvet, hidden as the pair prance around the bedroom and chortle loud enough to prompt one of the neighbours to complain. After that there’s muffled giggles, then a quiet ‘shit’ from the owner of the camera before it’s picked up and shut off.


	5. Cooking

It turns on, this time focused on the figure of the woman leaning over a stove. Her back is to the camera and the voice is clearly sitting at a table, a half-completed crossword abandoned thrown haphazardly on top.

“What’cha makin’?” the voice asks, still some parts asleep.

“Vada Pao,” the woman answers, stepping to the fridge to grab some buns. “Maya thinks she can make Grandpa’s recipe better so we’re now at war.”

“She is a pretty good cook,” the voice reasons.

“And now you’re not getting any sex tonight.”

The camera jostles as the voice quickly stands up, chanting ‘shit shit shit shit shit wait no I didn’t mean—’ as the woman laughs. It gets quickly turned off.


	6. Private

The next time the camera is on, it’s very short. Once again, it takes a few turns before it focuses. The owner is clearly hiding from the scene, a wall covering a quarter of the lens, and further into the room is the woman. She’s holding the vacuum cleaner, headphones in her ears as she tone-deafly sings along to a George Ezra song. Crazy dance moves that would be looked down upon in any public setting are free to be shown here, insane enough that the woman has to keep fixing her headphones every time she bobs her head too much.

The camera stays on for a couple more seconds, then shuts off.


	7. Magic movie nights

When it comes back on, it’s turned towards the woman. She’s sitting on a couch, defending a bucket of popcorn on her lap by slapping away stray hands, eyes flicking between DVDs set on the coffee table.

“Toy Story?”

“No.”

“Mulan?”

“Nope.”

“The Incredibles?”

A thoughtful hum, then, “eeeh, I dunno.”

“How can you not like The Incredibles?” The woman frowns, shoving a handful of popcorn into her mouth.

The camera moves, like the person behind it is shrugging. “My siblings made me watch it all the time as a kid. It lost its magic after a while.”

The woman snorts. “Maybe I should have dated one of them,” she jokes, looking up before instantly rolling her eyes. “Really? The camera, again? It’s Saturday, seven pm, we’re arguing over Disney movies, and this is somehow magical enough to record?”

“Obviously,” the voice says. The woman stares for a moment before blushing profusely, tucking her head into her chin.

She brings her hands up to her face, trying and failing to hide her grin. “I hate you so much,” she mumbles.

“No, you don’t,” the voice sings.

“You don’t like The Incredibles,” she cries, head springing up. “Of course I hate you!”

A hand sneaks out to steal some popcorn just before the camera turns off, a shriek of outrage cut in half.


	8. Trains

This time, the camera takes a few seconds to focus. When it does, it introduces a range of three sitting around a table. It’s one of those tacky-type tables you find on public transport, with large windows behind it showing greenery flashing by. There’s a mechanical hum in the air and the camera bounces a little every few seconds. In front of the camera sit a man and a teen girl, conversing quietly, but beside the owner is the woman, eyes closed and headphones in her ear.

A hand pokes the woman’s shoulder, accompanied by a quiet whisper of, “Carrie.” The woman opens her up, a sleepy look on her face that quickly turns fond when she sees the camera.

She pulls on a frown, making an effort of rolling her eyes. “Ugh, that thing.”

The people on the other side of the table look up, their eyes curious and narrowed. Then they grin, and the girl squeals.

“Oh my God, the camera! I thought you guys were just making that up.”

The man groans, rubbing his eyes. “No, it’s definitely real. Every time we meet up Dot shows us one of the videos, all ‘look, isn’t she adorable!’”

The woman blushes. “Shut up, Kenny,” she grumbles, and the voice just laughs.

The girl pouts. “Well, I think it’s great. How romantic – I wish I had a boyfriend who did that.”

The man glares at her. “Keep wishing, Kylie. No dating before eighteen, we agreed on that.”

His companion groans, looking out the speeding window. “You’re the worst brother ever.”

“Well, I think it’s great,” the woman teases, chuckling when the teenager frowns at her. “Seriously, though, put that thing away,” she says and turns back to the camera. “We’re not even doing anything interesting – we’re just on a train. It’s boring.”

“It’s never boring with you.”

The two opposite them groan loudly, mockingly gagging and throwing up. The woman flushes, grabbing a bag and swinging it at the camera gently. The voice laughs, then turns it off.


	9. Plant baby

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Inspiration for this chapter came from when I recently got my own cactus (Frances) and shoved pictures of her into everyone's faces.

Hues of colours mix until the image becomes clearer. The woman sits on the now familiar bed, eyes shining with tears and the biggest smile on her face. The camera stays close on the face until it zooms out, revealing the object of the woman’s affection to be a baby cactus.

Behind the camera, the voice sighs heavily. “I’m gonna regret buying you this, aren’t I?”

“Shut up,” the woman hisses, drawing her fingers along the pot’s edge. “This cactus is the most beautiful thing on the planet, fuck yeah I’m gonna stare at it for two hours!”

“It’s a plant,” the voice grumbles.

The woman gasps, looking up with an exaggerated expression of hurt. When she sees the camera, she freezes, eyes wide, before quickly shoving the cactus right in front of the lens and grinning. “Look at this beauty!”

The owner jumps backwards, clearly amused. “Jesus, Carrie, you’re gonna fucking stab me with that th—”

The video ends half-way through the sound.


	10. Big birds

The next time it comes on, the viewfinder is black. No colour comes through but sound still does – it carries a conversation between the voice and the women.

“Kenny’s already taken a billion pictures, Dot, so have you, why can’t I just—”

“Nope,” the familiar voice says, smug. “Needs to be on the camera. Your face is priceless right now.”

“It’s an owl,” the woman whisper-yells. “It has claws, very long claws, that are digging into my flesh the longer you stare at me!”

“Actually,” an unknown voice says, “the owls at this zoo are very safe. They won’t hurt you. And even if they did, these gloves are thick enough to stop any clawing.”

“Oh.” The woman chuckles nervously. “That’s good.” There’s the sound of shuffling, then another exasperated sigh. “You’re not even looking into the camera, can we go?”

“Fine, fine,” the voice agrees. “And I wasn’t looking because the view from my eyes is much funnier.”

There’s the sound of squawking and a pair of polite goodbyes, then feet marching away.

“I can’t believe I just did that.”

“You looked cool,” the owner of the camera offers. “So, I mean, there’s that. Here, let me show you.”

There’s more shuffling, then the male voice from a few videos back speaks up. “Uh, guys? Hate to break it to you but the cap was on the entire time.”

Sure enough, moments after he says that a hand unscrews the cap to reveal the blurred image of three pairs of feet.

There’s silence, then the voice speaks up sheepishly. “So... Babe…”

The sound of a snort. “Absolutely not.”

The voice sighs, then turns the camera off.


	11. Kitchen disaster

It gets turned on to the image of the woman standing in front of a kitchen counter, staring dejectedly at a bowl of white something with flour sprinkled all over her face.

“This was such a bad idea,” she sighs.

“Ditto,” the voice says, sounding tired. “Why couldn’t we have just bought something at the store?”

“It was supposed to be personal,” the woman defends. She looks up, rolling her eyes at the camera but not saying anything. “Maya is so not gonna let this go.”

“Well, tell her next time we just won’t get her anything, then.”

The woman huffs. “She’s my sister!”

“You broke a pan.”

“…Yeah.”

“A pan,” the voice repeats. “A fucking metal pan. How do you even do that? Like, seriously, how?”

“Easily, apparently.” The woman rubs her forehead, running her eyes over a series of ingredients haphazardly thrown onto the counter. “No, come on. I bet we can do this – we just need to actually follow the recipe this time.”

“Yeah, that really should have been the first clue.”

The woman glares, then points to the camera. “Off with this. You’re helping me or you’re eating all the raw ingredients.”

The voice laughs. “Off your body?”

The woman looks up, amused. “Not if that camera stays on.”

The screen goes black.


	12. Gold Man

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Recently went to London with a friend and they saw a living statue for the first time - hence, this chapter.

A blur of light and dark colours, slowly focusing until it opens on somewhere in the middle of a city. Right in front of the camera is a man painted in gold from toe to head, standing still with one leg touching the ground and the rest of his body contorted. The woman stands off to the side, staring wide-eyed as the camera shakes gently.

The voice laughs. “Carrie’s never seen a living statue,” it says. “She’s in shock.”

The woman doesn’t seem to care, barely resisting bouncing on her toes as she watches the man move onto a different position. “How does he do that? I can’t believe you’re used to this!”

“One leg’s nailed to the ground,” the voice says. “It’s no longer as magical when you find out the truth.”

The woman hits a shoulder behind the camera, grinning when the camera jolts. “Don’t ruin it,” she says. “You have no sense of joy. I don’t even know why I’m with you. I should leave you for Gold Man.”

The voice gasps dramatically. “Gold Man. The one thing I can’t be.”

The woman laughs, slipping behind the camera. There’s the sound of kissing before she moves back, taking coins out of a bag. The voice sighs as she bends down, places the coins into a hat, and smiles at the living statue.

The camera zooms in on the gold man’s face before cutting off.


	13. Encouragement

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I saw some pictures on Pinterest and became jealous, and you know what they say when you get jealous - "if you can't find friends to live through vicariously, do it to your characters!"

The next frame is already focused. The woman sits at the edge of a bathtub, her hair wrapped in a towel and her finger nails tapping insistently on the porcelain.

“Babe, don’t worry, it’s gonna be awesome.”

The woman looks up, biting her lip. “Well, I mean, hopefully but – what if it isn’t? There’s no coming back from it now!”

The camera shakes, as if the owner shrugged. “In that case, there’s no point obsessing over it. But trust me – pink is your colour. And you trust Kylie, right? She’s been dying her own hair – and others’ – for years. It’ll be fine.”

The woman hesitates, then sighs. “I’m gonna be so embarrassed if this sucks.”

“It won’t,” the voice reassures.

The woman gets up and turns towards a mirror, taking a deep breath before pulling the towel off her head. Out of the material flows ombre hair, a deep pink at the roots and a bleached white towards the bottom. The blend is seamless, mostly even as the woman gapes and burrows her hands into the hair.

Silence, then, “Jesus fucking Christ, you look so hot.”

The woman looks up, a large grin across her face, before snapping her eyes back to the mirror. “Really? It doesn’t look… ridiculous?”

“Uh – fuck no,” the voice scoffs. “Everyone is going to be so jealous of you whenever you step out in public. And Jesus, imagine pulling that hair in the bedroom.”

The woman’s cheeks flush, and she looks up, considering. “Turn the camera off.”

“Hmm?”

She raises an eyebrow. “I don’t care if you think it’s ‘special’, but I’m not letting you record us having sex.”

The voice cries. “Oh, fuck ye-“

The sound cuts to silence.


	14. Sick

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> All the Spanish is straight off Google translate so blame that for any mistakes.
> 
> This chapter is actually inspired by my experience when I get sick; I always revert to Russian, though not as extreme as Carrie - I usually just say tiny things like "yes" and "okay" and "wait" in Russian.

The camera focuses on feet, at first, before they start moving and it all becomes blurry. A door opens and the camera enters a bedroom, raised to show the image of a head-full of pink hair buried under a duvet.

“I brought you soup,” the voice calls, bringing a bowl of soup into view.

The head looks up to reveal the woman, pale and sickly-looking, her nose red and eyes glassy. “And _la camara_ , too.”

The voice sighs. “She reverts to Spanish when she gets sick,” it explains, then puts the soup on a bedside table. “Still no better, _hermosa_?”

The woman scrunches her nose, staring with narrowed eyes for a moment. “Did you look that up on Google translate?”

“Maybe,” the voice admits.

The woman rolls her eyes, sinking back into the bed. “ _Cierre las cortinas_ ,” she mumbles, a scowl on her face.

A sigh. “Still don’t know any Spanish, Carrie.”

“ _Las cortinas_ ,” the woman repeats again, flailing a hand outwards. “Curtains.” Behind the camera the voice lets out an amused huff and focused the camera on the bed. The room falls into darkness, followed quickly by a, “ _finalmente_.”

“Did you seriously just say, ‘finally’?” The voice asks.

The woman merely groans from the bed, burrowing further into her pillow. A muffled, ‘maybe’ is heard as she gets comfortable, the camera stepped closer until the owner sits on the side of the bed. Gentle hands touch her forehead and she sighs.

“Still hot,” the voice says.

The woman snorts. “ _Gracias_.”

The camera shakes with laughter. “Not what I meant.”

The view stays for a few more seconds, hand caressing the woman’s forehead gently, before it turns off.


	15. Oh, So Dangerous

For a brief moment, everything is blurry and loud and chaotic, not unlike turbulence on an airplane. Eventually, it all calms down until a very annoyed voice is present, the camera focused on feet marching up stairs.

“ _Unbelievable_ ,” the voice growls. “Can’t even get one second to nap peacefully before—”

The camera rises as the voice steps into the bathroom, focusing on the woman – who squeaks, because her hair is wet and her cheeks are flushed and she is only wearing a towel draped around her body.

“—you!” the voice continues, “make a massive drama out of fucking _nothing_.”

The woman seems to forget about the camera and glares at the person behind it, her cheeks turning even pinker. “It was a really big spider!”

“It’s the _tiniest fucking spider ever!_ ” The camera spins until it shows, indeed, the tiniest fucking spider ever, resting peacefully on the far side of a bathtub. “It wasn’t anywhere even near you!”

“So not true!” The woman protests, waving a hand around when the camera returns to her. “You’re making stuff up now; did you know spiders are one of the most lethal poisonous animals in the world?!”

“You _just_ told me not to lie.”

The woman gasps. “I’m not lying!”

“Yes, you are,” gripes the voice. “And spiders aren’t even animals. They beautiful, peaceful, _innocent_ arachnids.”

A scoff. “Sure. Either way, I’m not getting back in until you get rid of it.”

The voice sighs heavily, some of it clearly for effect, before saying, “you’re lucky I’d feel guilty about murder.”

The woman’s face softens until it turns into goo. “Aww, I love you too.”

“No, no, fuck off – you woke me up in the middle of a nap for a teeny-fucking-tiny spider! No sappy ‘I love you’s, alright?”

The woman rolls her eyes but nods. “Just get on with it, Romeo.”

The video cuts with a final exasperated sigh.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> True story inspired by me taking a shower yesterday and getting my mom to throw a spider out for me. In my defence, it was actually _floating_ down slowly and could have totally landed on me. And you always hear these stories about how spiders that are "perfectly safe" end up biting some poor kid and his arm falls off twenty seconds later!
> 
> Seriously.


End file.
